Murmansk Commercial Seaport increases investments in environmental projects by 9 times over the past five years

Denis Ilatovsky, SUEK’s Director of Logistics and Chairman of the Board of Murmansk Commercial Seaport, presented at the International Arctic Forum during the session ‘Artic — territory of dialogue’ the port’s broad environmental environmental management programme which enabled the port to decrease emissions by 40%. The programme includes a reduction in fuel consumption and improvements in port-loading efficiency. As a result, operations at the Artic Basin’s largest stevedoring company now only account for 0.75% of emissions in the city of Murmansk.

The Murmansk Commercial Seaport has been rapidly upgrading its equipment over the last years. The introduction of new high-performance machines has allowed the port’s fleet be reduced from 90 to 65 units. The implementation of a fuel consumption monitoring system helped reduce fuel intake by a quarter.

The modern line of domestic Aist and Vityaz portal cranes increased payload and streamlined cargo transshipment operations, which was the most effective method to reduce dust levels in the industrial zone. Additionally, a system of six dust-suppressing fog generators was successfully installed and — in a first in Russia — equipped with a ‘winter package’, enabling dust control in low temperature environments.

The Murmansk Commercial Seaport has increased investments in environmental programmes by a factor of nine since 2012. These have grown to $5m per year, while tax payments to the regional budget have increased 2.2 times to $15m.

Denis Ilatovsky also highlighted that the new three-year programme will see the environment impact of operations further reduced twice. Plans for 2017 include the commissioning of a water purification system, the completion of the design of a 20-metre dust-suppressing fence around the perimeter of the port’s industrial zone, and plans to convert part of the port’s automotive fleet to natural gas.